Pakistani civilians prepare to flee Swat valley onslaught

Up to 500,000 people could be forced to flee the Swat valley fighting between Taliban forces and the Pakistan army, the country's government warned today.

Hundreds have already left the area, adding to the hundreds of thousands of existing refugees driven from other regions in the north-west over the last year.

The deteriorating situation in the valley came as Pakistan’s leader prepared for talks in Washington with President Barack Obama on how to step up his country’s fight against al Qaida and the Taliban, which are blamed for attacks in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

US officials said Mr Obama would seek assurances from President Asif Ali Zardari that his country’s nuclear arsenal was safe.

Although the US thinks Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are secure for now, concern that militants might try to seize one or several of them is acute. The anxieties have heightened amid the Taliban’s recent advances.

Pakistan agreed to a truce in the Swat Valley and surrounding districts in February after two years of fighting with militants in the former tourist resort. It formally introduced Islamic law last month in the hope that insurgents would lay down their arms, something they have not done.

Last week, the insurgents moved from the valley into Buner, a district just 60 miles from the capital, triggering alarm at home and abroad. The army responded with an offensive that it says has killed more than 100 militants, but has yet to evict them.

Today Khushal Khan, the top administrator in Swat, said Taliban were roaming the area and laying mines.

A Taliban spokesman claimed the militants were in control of “90%” of the valley and said their actions were in response to army violations of the peace deal such as attacking insurgents and boosting troop numbers in the region. He accused the government of acting under pressure from the US

Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister for the North West Frontier Province, said up to 500,000 people were expected to flee the valley. He said authorities were releasing emergency funds and preparing six new refugee camps to house them.

It is far from certain the government will be able to dislodge the militants, who have had three months to rest and reinforce their positions.

Pakistan has waged several offensives in the border region in recent years that have often ended inconclusively amid public anger at civilian casualties. The country’s army, trained to fight conventional battles against rival India, is not used to guerrilla warfare.

Pakistan is struggling to thwart an increasingly overlapping spectrum of extremist groups, some of whom have enjoyed official support. Few extremist leaders are ever brought to justice.

Earlier today a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying troops near Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, killing one paramilitary soldier and four civilians.

Another 21 people, including 10 troops and police and two children, were injured, Afridi said.